I'm a believer in the importance of the microbiome, but this study seems fishy:<p>* the authors have already started a company and pursued a patent on their ayurvedic-derived formulation<p>* the figure 1(a) in their paper (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-25382-z#Fig1" rel="nofollow">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-25382-z#Fig1</a>) doesn't show a big difference from plain probiotics to their formulation, but does show some oddities in the Y-axis where, for the control group, there were clearly exactly just 10 flies' mortality measured (integer steps down), but apparently many, many more for other cases scaled to the 0-10 axis.<p>* it's unclear if the treatments/evaluations where blinded – the word 'blind' is not found in the Nature article<p>* the 1st comment on the Nature article wonders: "the control flies didn't live to their normal expected age or even close. What gives?"<p>(Perhaps the flies that lived longer just had more food in total?)
In a few years we might look back at this period and think: oh, it was at the time when we thought gut bacteria was the solution to every health problem known to mankind.<p>Remember when it was vitamin D?
I think there's been very little evolutionary pressure to increase lifespan in creatures like fruit flies since despite their short lifespan few of them die from age related causes.
I would assume it's pretty easy to increase the lifetime of short-lived creatures in a protected environment, and pretty unlikely that the methods which accomplish this would also extend the lives of long-lived creatures.
> Scientists fed fruit flies with a combination of probiotics and an herbal supplement called Triphala that was able to prolong the flies' longevity by 60 percent and protect them against chronic diseases associated with aging.<p>For comparison, dietary restriction increases longevity in rats and mice by up to 45%, but this may only be in lab animals<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3299887/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3299887/</a>
Wait, it's an internet law that every article that asks if "<something> may be the solution to <some problem>" it is never the solution.
The topic microbime is definitely on the rise right now. It will soon reach mainstream media.<p><a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=US&q=Microbiome" rel="nofollow">https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge...</a>